TEAMSTER HISTORY Sue Mauren was a Teamster employed at the University of Minnesota. She participated in a pension plan run by the university, and was not a participant in the Central States Fund (CSPF)   She became a Teamster around 1980 and continued till the early 1990s, when she was hired as a business agent. Mauren was hired as a business agent in the early 1990s by the leaders of Local 320. The officers of Local...

April 14, 2015: Under the banner of “Save Our Pensions”, 175 Minnesota Teamsters and retirees met on April 11 in St. Paul to get the facts and build the movement to save pensions. A surprise guest, Minnesota Congressman Rick Nolan, declared his support for repealing the pension-cut law and replacing it with a fair solution. The Save Our Pensions Committee called the meeting, and greatly expanded its working committee as a result of it. More meetings...

April 13, 2015: On April 15, workers will rally, sit-in and even strike as part of a national day of action to fight for $15-an-hour and a union. Teamster members are getting in on the action too. More than 60,000 workers in over 120 cities will rally, protest or strike on April 15 in the biggest national day of action since the movement began four years ago. Grassroots action has paid off. Walmart raised its...

April 13, 2015: The rules for the 2015-2016 Teamster election for IBT General President and officers, and for delegates from each local are now available on line. Richard Mark, who served as the independent Election Supervisor in the 2006 and 2011 IBT elections, will again supervise the 2015-2016 elections of delegates from all local unions to the IBT Convention, and the IBT Election of officers in 2016. Mark will supervise a national staff to handle...

April 9, 2015: Yesterday Teamster leaders and Central States Pension Fund director Thomas Nyhan laid out in vague terms their plan to cut the pensions of retirees and active Teamsters. A preliminary letter to all participants will be mailed out today. No details or numbers are being revealed, but they did outline their timeline for cuts. By June or soon after, every active Teamster and retiree will receive an individualized estimate of how the proposed...

April 8, 2015: Over 100 Teamsters from across the Midwest and South converged on the Rosemont Convention Center today to voice their objections to possible pension cuts by the Teamster Central States Pension Fund.   "We're here today because we worked hard, sometimes gave up raises, to earn a decent pension,” said Greg Smith, a retiree from Akron Ohio Local 24. The retirees talked with officials and passed out a leaflet to them, as they entered...

March 31, 2015: Stop the rush to pension cuts will be the rallying cry when retirees and active Teamsters converge on Rosemont, to ask their local officers to Say No to Pension Cuts. The Central States Pension Fund has summoned hundreds of Teamster officials to a meeting Wednesday, April 8, where pension fund director Thomas Nyhan will report on his plans regarding possible pension cuts for some 300,000 retired and active Teamsters. The Wisconsin Committee...

March 31, 2015: The 2014 financial report of the IBT is available, as of today, as are the financial reports of nearly all Teamster local unions. Hoffa’s salary rose to $305,759, and including his lucrative “housing allowance” he made $379,411. To access your local’s 2014 report, just follow the instructions here. Today is the deadline for every local, joint council, or international to file its 2014 LM-2 financial report with the U.S. Department of Labor....

March 24, 2015: The Central States Pension Fund trustees have set up a briefing for local union officers on April 8. Will this be the big announcement regarding their proposed pension cuts – or a background briefing? The announcement states only that they will “provide Local Union officers with background information on the MPRA [pension cut legislation], review the process and timetable…and outline a communication plan for our participants.” It goes on to state that the...

March 24, 2015: Over 200 active and retired Teamsters packed the Cincinnati Local 100 hall for the monthly Retirees Club meeting to hear speakers address the pending cuts to Central States pensions. Mike Walden, chair of the Northeast Ohio Committee to Protect Pensions, told a standing room only audience that it was time to organize to push back the attacks on retirement security. That same day, 150 Teamster retirees met at the Columbus union hall...